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Thursday, August 9, 2012

Dissed by the DAR

In a recent post I announced my intentions to fulfill my
mother’s dream of joining the DAR. I
went to the DAR website and found 8 chapters within 16 miles of here. The websites for the two closest ones haven’t
been updated in over a year. Since the
Constantia chapter is only 9 miles from here and the website looked good, I
sent an inquiry to the registrar.

Then DANG! We were
dissed! Not totally. But we were strongly encouraged to look
elsewhere because of the distance to travel to meetings.

Constantia’s very polite registrar did give some helpful
suggestions. She said we should visit
several chapters before submitting our names for membership. Great!
I didn’t realize that was an option.
Meetings start up in September, so Mary Jollette and I will check out the
ladies of Fort Nelson and maybe the ones in Four Flags, maybe even Great
Bridge.

In the meantime, I’m starting the basic footwork of
gathering birth, death, and marriage records for my direct line back to Leonard
Davis.

Just to see what we have around here Minneapolis, Mn. I find we have quite a few chapters really close to me. But in viewing the rather extensive site they do like to locate the "right chapter" for each member! It seems they are a really active group, and one probably worth venturing into!

You go, Girl! Nine miles is too far to go? How far does everybody drive to get to Costco? I do have an idea, but am not sure if you will like it, Wendy. I suggest setting up another blog with ALL of the info and people that you want to present to them and then ask them to take a look. That way, you can easily gather all the info into one spot and you will also PROVE why you should be included into their group. You can copy and paste the stuff that you already have on here that applies. I doubt if very many of them are as organized as you on their genealogy. You can also print out a notebook of your posts also. Your family members will like it no matter what.

Wow! 8 chapters within 16 miles of each other! That's incredible! We have only 1 chapter in our entire county and as far as I can tell the next closest one is about 43 miles from here. What's good about this? They'd have to accept me! No dissing here!

Visiting is a good idea. You might get better vibes from one group over another. I encourage people to do this with Mayflower Society, too. There is a big difference between the Mass and the NH Societies (besides the size of the group, the yearly dues are more than triple in Mass because they have paid staff). And we have double members with Vermont and Maine, too, who belong to both. Go figure!

Definitely visit several chapters first! And if you don't find the right fit, ask to be put in touch with the State Membership Chair, who should be able to help you. I'm the Vice Regent of the Redmond, WA, chapter. We're in the greater Seattle area and so have a lot of neighboring chapters - and each one with its own personality. Good luck with your application!

I've spent some time trying to connect with a local DAR chapter in order to enlist some guidance as I work through the process of documenting my "people". I got frustrated at the lack of communication and have put it on the back burner. I think my problem is that I really want to join but at this point in my life, I'm not really interested in attending meetings. But that's not to say I won't in the future. Good luck!

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About Me

My name is Wendy. About twenty years ago, I helped my mother research the Jolletts. Since retiring from teaching, I have expanded my research which I share here. When I’m not looking for my own family, I index for FamilySearch and the Greene County Historical Society.
Welcome to Jollett Etc. Please leave a comment to let me know you were here. If you have more information or believe we are related, EMAIL ME at wendymath at cox dot net